Capitalism began as a theory about how the economy functions. It was both descriptive and prescriptive – it offered an account of how money worked and promoted the idea that reinvesting profits in production leads to fast economic growth. But capitalism gradually became far more than just an economic doctrine. It now encompasses an ethic – a set of

As the scholar Richard Sennett puts it, ‘Modern capitalism works by colonising people’s imagination of what is possible.’

It is somewhat concerning to us that people seemed, and still seem, to be lining up to both defend and attack “capitalism,” when the object of discussion could hardly be further from any worthwhile meaning of the word but is rather better described as: To boost aimless consumption, primarily with uncollateralized debt, by destroying the price signa

If you’re on the left, when you hear the word “finance”, you’ll likely think of a hyper-individualised pursuit of personal wealth, or the power that large financial institutions have had over society, especially in the fallout of the 2008 recession. If you’re on the right, you may think of the more “entrepreneurial” aspects we associate with financ